


Bedtime Stories

by nekocrouton



Category: Uncharted (Video Games)
Genre: Brotherly Affection, Brotherly Love, Forehead Kisses, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-09
Updated: 2017-06-09
Packaged: 2018-11-12 06:04:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,928
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11155782
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nekocrouton/pseuds/nekocrouton
Summary: This was inspired by both an idea thatOh_Chrisgave me, as well as a commission that was done forsomethingyesterdaythat you can seehere.Oh_Chrishad mentioned something about Sam visiting Nathan at the orphanage at night just to read him bedtime stories (usually about treasures and pirates) but then he ends up falling asleep there after work and spending the night asleep in Nathan's bed.  The idea was just too cute to me, so I couldn't resist writing it.  In this story I imagine Nathan to be about ten years old, which means that Sam would be about fifteen.





	Bedtime Stories

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Oh_Chris](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oh_Chris/gifts), [somethingyesterday](https://archiveofourown.org/users/somethingyesterday/gifts).
  * Inspired by [Sweet Pure Drake Brothers](https://archiveofourown.org/external_works/298209) by hi-host. 



Nathan had just settled into his small, twin-sized bed for the night, not long after Sister Catherine had turned the lights out for the evening.  He had snuggled under his blanket while turning to face the wall and attempted to fall asleep, but after a few moments of squeezing his eyes shut, they snapped open again.  Nathan tried again, and again, and even flipped over onto his other side, but it was no use.  He was still wound up after the fight he had gotten into earlier in the evening with an older boy, Tommy, who had been pestering him over a cookie at dinnertime and demanded that he give him his dessert.  Nathan of course refused and stood his ground, but unfortunately got a fist to the mouth before the sisters could get in and break up the fight.  And even though he hadn’t been the one to start the fight, he still got punished by having his dessert taken away, which he thought was _really_ unfair.  But sadly in his young age, Nathan had quickly learned that life was anything _but_ fair.

 

Huffing a soft sigh, Nathan rubbed at his mouth with the palm of his hand, finding it still a little swollen from the hit that he took.  Silently, he made a promise to himself that he’d get revenge on Tommy.  He wasn’t sure how or when, but he’d figure something out.  He usually did.  Nathan flopped onto his back in the middle of his bed, and stared up at the ceiling, wide awake.  The moon shone light into his room, illuminating his bed as well as the other empty beds that were within.  Since he was marked as somewhat of a troublemaker, even though _most_ of the fights he’d gotten into weren’t his fault, he didn’t have any roommates.  The sisters thought it was best that he was isolated from the other boys, so that he wouldn’t give any of the other orphans any ideas.  At least, that’s what he had heard when he was listening in to one of the conversations in the headmaster’s office while crouched around the corner.  But it suited him just fine.  The books that lined his dresser were better company than any of the other kids anyway.

 

Just as he turned over to _try_ and go to sleep again, he heard a light tapping noise coming from the window.  Nathan quickly shoved his blanket aside and sprung up from the bed.  A smile spread across his face when he saw his older brother’s face peering through the other side of the glass.  “Sam!”  Nathan exclaimed in a hushed voice as he hurriedly popped the lock open on the windowpane and tugged the window up with a little bit of a struggle.  He managed it though, and soon Sam was climbing through the opening that he had made for him.

 

“Hey little brother,” Sam said quietly as he gave Nathan an affectionate ruffle of his hair once he made it inside.  “Might need to get some grease for that window there, huh?  Seems like it’s kind of getting harder to open.”

 

“Yeah,” Nathan agreed with a nod, unable to stop grinning at his older brother.  He loved Sam’s night visits.  He wished that they were _every_ night.   “I’ll have to ask Sister Catherine about it when I see her in the morning.”

 

“Whoa, you sure you wanna do that?”  Sam asked as he plopped down onto the bed to take a seat.  “Don’t want her to get suspicious or nothin’.” 

 

Nathan shrugged as he sat down on the bed next to Sam.  “I can play it off as a safety thing.  You know, in case of fire or something like that.”

 

Sam glanced down at his little brother and gave him a grin while patting him on the shoulder.  “That’s pretty clever, Nathan.  And here I thought _I_ was the smart one.”

 

Nathan playfully punched Sam in the arm and giggled softly.  “Hey, I’m smart too you know.”

 

“I know, you are kiddo,” Sam admitted with a quiet laugh as he moved his hand to rub at the spot where Nathan had hit him.  Not that Nathan had _really_ hurt him, since they would never _intentionally_ hurt each other.  “You been working out too?  That’s some right hook you got there.”  He looked over his little brother’s face, and frowned when he saw what looked to be the beginnings of a fat lip.  “Hey, where’d you get this?”  Sam asked with concern as he grabbed Nathan’s chin to examine the injury closer.

 

Nathan sighed.  He could never hide anything under the watchful eye of his older brother.  “This older kid Tommy kept telling me that I had to give him my cookie or else he’d beat me up.  I didn’t want to give it to him, so he punched me in the mouth.  And then I got in trouble anyway, _and_ I didn’t even get to eat my cookie.  It was a bunch of crap.”  He huffed a breath and pouted as he crossed his arms in front of him.

 

“That _is_ a bunch of crap,” Sam said as he let Nathan’s face go.  “Nathan, I’m sorry.  If I could still be here and watch out for you, I would.  But I’ve got to work so that I can finally get _you_ out of here too.  As it is now, I can barely take care of myself.”  He looked at his little brother sadly.  “Please tell me that you understand.”

 

Nathan nodded.  “I know, I get it.”  He glanced up to meet Sam’s face and gave him a reassuring smile.  “I can take care of myself in here, even if you don’t think I can.”

 

Sam just chuckled at Nathan’s words.  “Oh I _know_ you can take care of yourself, little brother,” he said as he shook Nathan’s shoulder.  “Just uh, try to lay off the fights, all right?  Anyway…” Sam’s words trailed off as he slid a hand underneath the front of his jacket and tugged out a worn book.  “I thought that you could use a bedtime story.  I got this from the library, it’s a book about pirate legends, called Treasure Island.”

 

Nathan’s eyes widened when he saw the cover of the book, which depicted a one-legged, long haired pirate wielding a gun while a parrot was perched on his shoulder.  “Pirates?  All right!”  He exclaimed as he threw his arms around his older brother’s waist.  “That sounds awesome!”

 

“Shhh, don’t want the sisters to know that anything’s up,” Sam said in a hushed tone as he lovingly pet the top of Nathan’s head.  “Now, settle into bed so that I can start reading to you.”

 

Nathan quickly let go of his older brother and practically dove under the blanket so that he could make himself comfortable.  “Okay, I’m ready,” he announced as he tugged his blanket up to his chin.

 

Sam laughed softly as he pulled off his jacket and lay it at the end of the bed before climbing in next to Nathan.  The twin bed just barely held the both of them, but it was good enough.  “All right, the story of Treasure Island,” Sam announced in a quiet voice as he opened the novel up, just enough so that Nathan could hear him, but not _too_ loud so as not to alert anyone to his presence in the orphanage.  He tugged a small flashlight from the pocket of his jeans and clicked it on, in order to give enough light so that he could see the words on the pages. 

 

Nathan nuzzled up against Sam’s side as his older brother started reading the story to him, listening attentively to Sam’s words and peeking at the novel that he was reading from.  He loved the silly voices that Sam would use for the different characters, and the sound effects that he made for things such as swordfights and cannon explosions.  Nathan could have read the book himself, but it was _way_ more fun when Sam read to him.  Eventually though, he started to find himself getting tired, and Nathan tried with all his might to keep his eyelids open, but Sam’s voice was so soothing and his body was so warm, that eventually Nathan found his eyes slipping shut and he soon dozed off next to him.

 

When Sam heard a small snore come from beside him, he glanced down and saw that Nathan was fast asleep.  He stopped reading and couldn’t help but smile at how adorable and innocent his little brother looked while he was sleeping.  Almost angelic.  Sam folded an ear of the page that he was on and shut the book, carefully placing it on the nearby nightstand so that he wouldn’t wake his brother up.  He then turned his flashlight off with a flick of his thumb and stowed it back into his pocket before gingerly lying down next to Nathan and curling up against his back so that he didn’t fall off of the edge of the bed.  Before long, Sam found himself drifting off into slumber as well, the long day at his job finally taking its toll on him.

 

* * *

 

 

Once the early morning sunlight started to filter into Nathan’s room, Sam stirred awake as a ray of light settled over his face.  He rubbed the sleep out of his eyes and then glanced over at his little brother to see that Nathan was thankfully, still out like a light.  _Gotta get to work again_ , Sam thought as he carefully got out of bed, making sure not to wake his brother up.  He always hated having to leave Nathan, and his little brother let him know it too, Sam could practically envision the pout on Nathan’s face whenever he had to go.  So even though he also hated having to sneak out on his brother, it wasn’t _nearly_ as bad as facing that pout if Nathan happened to be awake.  It was more than enough to make him give in and stay, and play around with his brother.  But he couldn’t do that, not when he had money to be made.

 

As Sam got up to standing, he grabbed his jacket from the end of the bed and tugged it back on.  He gave a little shiver at the cool, crisp air in the room from the open window, and was glad that Nathan was deeply sleeping underneath his blanket that was currently curled around him.  Sam didn’t want his brother to catch cold after all.  Before he left though, there was one last thing that Sam needed to do.  He gingerly bent over to where his little brother was dozing in bed, and pressed a soft kiss to his forehead.  “I love you, little brother,” Sam murmured softly before pulling away from Nathan, thankful that he didn’t wake his brother with the affectionate gesture.

 

Sam hoisted himself up into the windowsill and started to make his way through the open hole.  But before he scooted through it, he glanced back at his slumbering little brother.  “I promise you Nathan, I’m gonna get you out of here someday,” he whispered quietly.  “And then it’ll just be you and me, just like it’s always been.”  He gave a reassuring nod of his head before finally making his escape.  As he made his way down the precarious rooftops, he hoped that he’d have time to come back that night so that he could continue reading the story to his little brother.  He owed him at _least_ that much.


End file.
